Garlic Shrimp Salad

[Sportsmedjosh]

his shrimp salad is a meal by itself, or a wonderful compliment to a larger meal as a side dish. It is best to buy shrimp that is still frozen. Shrimp that has already been thawed has a very short shelf life and will not be nearly as flavorful. Make sure your shrimp is the freshest possible.

Prep and Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb medium cooked shrimp, best bought still frozen
1 bunch asparagus cut into 1 inch lengths, discarding bottom fourth, (cut entire bunch at the same time)
1 fresh tomato, seeds and excess pulp removed cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4 medium cloves garlic, pressed
3 TBS chopped fresh parsley
small head of romaine lettuce, chopped
*optional 2 oz crumpled goat cheese
salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Dressing
3 TBS fresh lemon juice
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1 TBS Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Directions:


Make sure shrimp is completely thawed and patted dry with a paper towel, or it will dilute the flavor of the salad.
Cook asparagus in lightly salted boiling water for about 3 minutes. Drain and make sure asparagus is dried of excess water with paper towels.
Cut tomatoes in half, remove seeds and cut out excess pulp. Cut into about ½ inch pieces.
Whisk together lemon, oil, mustard, honey, garlic, salt and pepper. Toss shrimp, asparagus, parsley, and tomato with dressing and herbs. Allow shrimp salad to marinate for at least 15 minutes.
Discard outer leaves of lettuce head, rinse, dry and chop. Serve shrimp mixture on bed of lettuce and top with crumpled goat cheese if desired.


Serves 4
Healthy Cooking Tips:

Buying shrimp that is still frozen will ensure that it will be as fresh as possible. Because all shrimp comes frozen in stores once they have thawed they lose their freshness very quickly. This recipe was created to be very quick and easy, so we added already cooked shrimp to the ingredient list. If you have the time, obviously it would have better flavor if the shrimp was raw and you cooked it yourself. It is very important either way to make sure the shrimp and asparagus is patted dry. Otherwise, they will dilute the flavor of your dressing if not, and your salad will taste weak. Also, it you plan ahead, this salad will taste even better if it marinates for a couple of hours.